Recollections of a Green Girl
by TimeLordTechnology
Summary: A series of one-shots and headcannons about Ephaba's childhood days.
1. The Book Burning

Elphaba sat in her room, escaping herself with the help of one of her favorite books. It was three weeks after her eleventh birthday. Nobody had remembered it, which wasn't really surprising- but nevertheless, it stung her. She found that reading and sometimes munching on an apple helped her to cope with her family's negligence.

She was just finishing one of the best chapters when her father knocked on her door and then entered without waiting for a consenting reply.

"Fabala," he regarded her. "Lost in another book, are we?"

She looked up grudgingly from the page and nodded.

For a minute, her father simply stood there silently and surveyed his eldest daughter's room. It seemed everything he set his eyes upon disgusted him, including her.

Finally, he spoke. "As you know, Elphaba, your brother has some friends coming over tonight."

She hadn't known, but she knew that saying so would get her nowhere and so she nodded anyway.

"As usual," Frex continued, "It would be best if you were to stay in your room, so that they will not be startled by your appearance."

Elphaba felt the heat of embarrassment rise to her cheeks.

"Also, Shell wanted to have a bon fire so that the boys could maybe roast their own dinners. However, we do not have enough spare firewood to do much along those lines. When I spoke to him about it, he mentioned your reading, which got me thinking… You must have books you can get rid of, yes?"

Elphaba was shocked and slightly confused. How could anybody be so monstrous as to burn books? It was simply barbaric.

Frex, however, had not waited for a reply and was poking through her bookshelves.

Elphaba rose and hurried over to her beloved books, blocking them from her father. "But-" she began to protest.

"Elphaba, why must you be so disobedient?" yelled Frex. He pushed his daughter aside and collected an armful of precious books she had collected over the years. He walked out of her room without looking back and kicked the door shut behind him.

She felt a surge of emotion rush through her. She felt anger and sadness and loneliness all at once. She did not know what to do, and so she only sat down on her bed and did not bother to conceal her utter horror.

She heard something outside. Feeling numb, she made her way to the window and looked out, not caring who saw her.

What greeted her eyes made her even more distraught.

Shell's friends had arrived and were happily ripping up the pages from her books. With each paper they pulled out, her heart seemed to rip further and further.

She felt pinpricks behind her eyes. For the first time in her life, Elphaba wanted to cry.

As they started to burn them, she allowed one tear to squeeze out. It burned her. She wanted to cry out from the pain, but she bit her lip and stopped herself. She let the tear burn her cheek for a little longer, and then used the sleeve of her dress to wipe it away.


	2. Holding Nessarose

"Alright, little duckie," said Nanny, motioning for Elphaba to come closer.

Elphaba hesitated, staring wide-eyed at the small bundle Nanny cradled in her arms. She wasn't sure what to think about this new baby. Her little sister.

She walked forward slowly; she didn't want to startle little Nessarose with her appearance. She knew Nanny was only letting her near the baby because her father was away- doing some missionary work, no doubt- and her mother was asleep. They had been careful to keep Nessa away from her sister, as if her greenness were contagious.

Nanny held the bundle out to her. Elphaba took a deep breath in and held it, then took her sister in her arms.

The baby looked up at her, equally wide-eyed. It did not cry, did not seem to care at all about Elphie's unnatural coloring.

Elphaba felt her heart beat faster. She felt something she rarely ever had before- affection. She loved her small, delicate Nessarose. She felt the need to care for her, protect her from harm.

"You know, duckie," Nanny said, "Little Sister has something different about her, too."

Elphaba did not speak, but furrowed her brow in question. The baby was a perfectly normal color.

"Look at her arms."

She did as she was told, carefully folding back the blanket; dreading that there would be a tint of green to the baby's arms or little fingers. What greeted her instead gave her a shock.

The baby was completely missing her limbs. Elphaba felt more fiercely protective. She knew how hard it was to go through life different from everyone else. She pictured Nessa being picked on, laughed at by other children as she had been. It made her angry. The baby, as if it could read Elphaba's mind, started to cry.

Nanny took the baby back into her arms, telling Elphie to be gentler with the baby.

Elphaba vowed to never let anything happen to her sister as long as she could prevent it.


	3. Blood Rubies

Elphaba walked quickly, hoping to get home before the dark clouds ahead spilled their rain. She wove her way through the town square, dodging people and things and trying not to be noticed. She kept her head lowered so that she wouldn't draw attention to her green skin.

The wind picked up, and Elphaba drew her cloak tighter around her. She looked up; the clouds seemed darker and closer. The thought of rain made her feel anxious.

She heard a crunch from underfoot. She looked down to see a fragment of newspaper, most likely the Nest Hardings Annual. She picked it up and read the headline with interest.

"OUR GLORIOUS WIZARD'S PLAN CONCERNING QUADLING LANDS," it read. Elphaba thought of Turtle Heart, who was like a second father to her. She also thought of Frexpar's plan to minister to the Quadling people.

She read on, forgetting the impending storm. The article read:

"AS THE CONSTRUCTION of the Yellow Brick Road continues, more deposits of rubies are being found in Quadling territory. It is our Wizard's plan to harvest these rubies and use them to benefit all of Oz. Workers who have been sent to start collecting the gems have run in to hostility from the Quadling people. It is clear that the Quadlings are selfish and against our Wizard possessing the rubies- even if it means Oz's success. The Wizard stated at a conference last week that he is considering declaring war. The Quadlings (CONTINUED ON PAGE 6)"

Elphaba furrowed her brow. War? With the Quadlings? If Turtle Heart was any example of the Quadling people, they weren't as evil as the Annual made them out to be.

She flipped over the paper. On the other side was a portrait of the Wizard.

He stood with one arm raised as if he were going to solute the people of Oz. His eyes looked cold and sharp, and a slight smile played at his lips. To Elphaba it looked like a sneer.

As she stared at the picture in her hands, she tried to puzzle out what emotion she should be feeling.

Pride for Oz's leader? Anger towards him for starting a war against the Quadling people? Sadness for the blood that would be shed over the rubies?

The wind surged again and blew the article out of her hands. She heard distant thunder and remembered the storm.

She ran the rest of the way home and decided she would ask Frex and Turtle Heart about it.


	4. The Forest

Elphaba pulled her scarf up higher to further cover her face.

She was walking beside Nessa, keeping her balanced with one hand gently pressed to her back. They were on their way home from Miss Tryndell's house, where they went to school, as Tryndell was the only woman in town who pitied the misfit girls enough to teach them.

It was nearing Lurlinemas and snow clung to the ground, its icy white grip squeezing the green out of the earth. Its color instead seemed to stick to Elphaba's skin, and she glowed more brightly green than ever against the flurries.

Nessarose looked uncomfortable, as she often did. Elphaba decided to ignore it and tried to brush it off as her sister's dramatic need to be pessimistic and difficult.

Soon enough, however, she gave in to her sisterly devotion and asked what was wrong.

"My feet hurt," Nessa whined, and tears threatened to fall from her wide, almost-too-innocent eyes. "And I'm cold. Can't we please go inside for a moment and warm up?"

"We aren't far from home," Elphaba said quietly.

"But Elphaba, I don't think I could bear walking anymore! Snow has fallen into my shoes and it is freezing my feet. I need to get inside!"

Elphaba looked into the pleading eyes of her younger sister and offered one more protest. "But Nessa-"

"You never listen to me!" Nessa snapped, taking an extra big step to free herself of her sister's grasp. "I want to go _inside._"

So she awkwardly lurched off, almost falling several times but somehow managing not to slip.

Elphaba felt angry at her sister for a few moments, then it settled into regret, and that gave way to worry.

Nessarose had headed toward the forest. There were animals there that could harm her.

She rushed after Nessa, her heart pounding in fear of the worst.

She found Nessa sitting on a fallen tree just outside of the forest, her dress no doubt soaked through from the snow. She was sobbing, none too quietly.

"Nessa, please, I'm sorry. We can go and sit inside someplace warm," she said, hoping to draw her sister away from whatever creatures lay just behind the nearest curtain of foliage.

Nessarose turned slowly and opened her mouth to speak, or perhaps to hurl another accusation at her sister. At that moment, a lion- or perhaps Lion- made itself seen, poking its great mane out of the trees.

Elphaba quickly shushed Nessa, who turned back to see the great lion/Lion staring hungrily back at her. She yelped and looked distressingly back to Elphaba, brown eyes stretched wider than ever.

Elphie didn't know what to do.

For a few moments, everything was unbearably still and tension-filled. Fate held its breath and the world was both a blur and crystal-clear.

She focused on the beast, counting on Nesszrose to stay still and silent. She had always felt a strong bond with the animal kingdom. She prayed, though she did not know to whom, that she could get through to this creature.

"Are you a Lion?" she asked, cautiously taking a step forward. She heard a low growl. She stopped moving.

If it was I Lion, it wasn't talking.

She tried something else. "Please, sir lion, or Lion, we mean you no harm. Let us leave you in peace."

Again, all was quiet. Nessa inched closer to her sister.

The beast blinked slowly. Elphaba nodded to Nessarose, who got up unsteadily and half-walked, half-fell to Elphie's side.

Elphaba nodded to the lion, and if she wasn't mistaken he inclined his head too.

The sisters walked away carefully, back into town and towards their home. Nessa's feet seemed to have healed, and the cold felt less frigid. Elphaba kept her hand protectively and firmly on Nessa's shoulder.


End file.
